social influence

• normative social influence (NSI) 


  when a person conforms in order to be accepted/belong to a group
• informational social influence (ISI)


  when a person conforms because they have a desire to be right, and look to others who they believe may have more information
• compliance 


  when individuals publicly agree with the majority view, but privately disagrees - temporary (a need to be accepted by the group)
• identification 


  when individuals change their public behaviour and private views when in the presence of the group, but not permanently (they begin to identify with the group)
• internalisation 


  when individuals genuinely change their behaviour to that of a group/person because they see their views are 'correct' - views now expressed publicly and privately
• variables affecting conformity

  • difficulty of task
  • size of the majority
  • unanimity
• variable affecting conformity - difficulty of task 


  harder task: conformity increases - pts are uncertain and look to others for guidance (ISI)

  easier task: conformity decreases - more certain, independent behaviour
• variable affecting conformity -size of the majority 


  small group: conformity decreases - pts under pressure to say same answer as majority

  large group: conformity increases - but more than 3~5 confederates did not increase conformity
• variable affecting conformity - unanimity 


  unanimous verdict: conformity stays high, all confederates stick to the same unanimous wrong answer

  disturbed unanimity: conformity decreases, not excluded
• variable affecting conformity - pts answering in private 


  pts who wrote their answer rather than vocalise them: conformity decreases, less group pressure (NSI not as powerful)
• deindividuation


  when people lose their sense of socialised individual identity and resort to unsocialised and anti-social behaviour
• learned helplessness 


  a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly and believe that they are unable to change or control the situation, so no longer try (even when there are opportunities for change)
• resisting social influence 


  the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or obey authority
• situational factors 


  a theory that suggest behaviour is caused by the situation an individual finds themselves in
• dispositional factors 


  a theory that suggests that behaviour is caused due to something to do with the person (e.g. personality trait)
• conformity 


  the tendency for a person to change their behaviour/beliefs in response to perceived pressure from other people in a group
• Asch's aim 


  to investigate the extent to which social erasure from a majority group could affect a person to conform
• Asch's procedure

  • 50 pts were selected out of 123 male uni students
  • 1 naive pts was seated 6th in a row of 7-9 confederates
  • the naive pts were told the task was to examine perceptual judgements, and were instructed to pick which of 3 lines 'matched' line X
  • it was an unambiguous task
• Asch's results

  • naive pts gave the wrong answer 37% of the time
  • 5% of naive pts conformed on every critical trial
  • 25% of pts remained completely independent (did not conform)
  • 75% of pts conformed at least once
• Asch's procedure

  • 50 pts were selected out of 123 male uni students
  • 1 naive pts was seated 6th in a row of 7-9 confederates
  • the naive pts were told the task was to examine perceptual judgements, and were instructed to pick which of 3 lines 'matched' line X
  • it was an unambiguous task
  • in 12/18 of the trials (the critical trials) the confederates gave the wrong answer, 6/12 said longer line matched line X, 6/12 said shorter line matched line X
• Asch's conclusion 


  people conform for 2 reasons:

  1. to fit in with the group = normative social influence
  2. believe the group[ is more informed than they are = informational social influence
• Zimbardo's simulated prison observation - aim

  to investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles of the guard + prisoner in a role playing simulation of prison life
• Zimbardo's simulated prison observation - procedure

  • 24 male college students selected from those who responded to an advert in the paper
  • pts were randomly allocated to either the role as a guard or a prisoner
  • guards: welcomed to the 'prison', given guard uniform, billy club and reflective sunglasses (avoid eye contact with prisoners)
  • prisoners: pts were arrested at their house without warning (deception), when arrived to the 'prison' they were stripped, given prison clothes + stripped, only reffered to by number
• Zimbardo's simulated prison observation - results

  • only 10% of the time were pts conversations about life outside of prison
  • prisoners + guards quickly conformed to their social roles
  • prisoners were punished by doing push up in the middle of the night, cleaning the toilet with their bare hands etc.
  • the experiment was terminated after 6 days (instead of 2 weeks) due to the abuse the prisoners had to suffer
• Zimbardo's simulated prison observation - conclusion 


  deindividuation: guards wore uniforms which may have given them a sense of responsibility/explanation for their behaviour

  learned helplessness: prisoners learned they could not be helped, so gave up
• obedience 


  the following of orders from someone of higher authority
• Milgram's study of obedience to authority - aim 


  the pts thought that the study was about the effects of punishment on memory, the real aim was to see if pts would obey the orders of an authority figure even when there were fatal consequences
• Milgram's study of obedience to authority - procedure

  • 40 males (20-50 years) where chosen from the volunteers, paid $4 for simply turning up
  • experimenter explains that 1 pts will be a 'teacher' + one a 'learner'
  • naive pts were ALWAYS the 'teacher', confederate ALWAYS the 'learner'
  • 'teacher' read out word Paris from a list
  • 'learner' must say the word that matches one read out loud
  • if the wrong answer is said the 'learner' receives a shock (15-450v)
• Milgram's study of obedience to authority - findings

  • pts looked uncomfortable, they became sweating, showed nervous laughter, had seizures and said they wanted to leave
  • 100% (40/40 pts) game 300 volts
  • at 315 volts 4 pts refused to continue
  • 65% (26/40 pts) reached the max 450 volts
• Milgram's study of obedience to authority - conclusion 


  milligram concluded that pts believed any negative consequence of their behaviour can be blamed on someone else, people are less likely to take moral responsibility for their actions
• situation variables affecting obedience - loss of uniform (or legitimacy) 


  when the experimenter appeared to be an ordinary member of society instead of wearing a white lab coat, obedience dropped to 20%
• situation variables affecting obedience - location 


  experiment moved from a prestigious Yale university to a rundown office block nearby, obedience dropped to 48% administering 450 volts
• situation variables affecting obedience - proximity 


  when the learner moved into the same room as the teacher, obedience dropped to 40%
• situation variables affecting obedience - close proximity 


  when the teacher had to push the hand of the learner to touch the shock plate, obedience dropped to 30%
• situation variables affecting obedience - absent experimenter 


  when the experimenter left the room and gave instructions by telephone, only 21% continued to max 450 volts
• agentic state 


  when an individual gives up their free will + acts as an 'agent' implementing an authority figure's decision - the responsibility for their actions is passed onto the person giving orders
• autonomous state 


  when we are aware of our consequences + responsibility, we act/think as an independent individual, we accept personal responsibility for for our actions
• diffused responsibility 


  when someone is in an agent state the person may feel less personal responsibility because they assume others will take action, and they believe others will intervene if required
• moral strain 


  when someone is in an agent state the person may feel uncomfortable/distressed as a consequence of going against your own conscience
• how do individuals cope with moral strain?

  1. repression: a type of psychological defence mechanism that involves keeping certain thoughts, feelings or urges out of conscious awareness
  2. denial: deny that the event ever happened